Taiwanese businessman Morrison Li, accused by China of being a “Taiwanese spy,” was allowed to leave China for Japan on 24th, after serving nearly two years of imprisonment, with an additional 2-year deprivation of political rights. 

“Finally I can return to the Free World, and breathe some fresh air.” Morrison told BBC Chinese in an exclusive documentary, when he just crossed the Japan’s custom, wearing a face mask featuring the flag of Taiwan.  

Morrison disappeared after entering Shenzhen from Hong Kong in August 2019, during the outbreak of the vigorous Anti-Extradition protests in Hong Kong. He told BBC that he was taking photographs of the arms police’s gathering at the Shenzhen-Hong Kong border, from from a hotel window 50 meters away. 

He was investigated for being suspected of “engaging in activities that endanger national security”, and later in October 2019, he was arrested on the charge of “spying and illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities.”  

After serving one year and 10 months in prison, he could not leave the country, and stayed in China for another two years, with disenfranchisement of his political rights coerced by China’s government.    

In the BBC’s interview, Morrison revealed that he had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since he was arrested by the police. “Every day, there were three men who surveilled me closely. I couldn’t watch TV, nor use the computer,” Lee described his house arrest during the investigation period, “I even anticipated being trialed, otherwise I had no one to talk to.”

During the two years in China, Morrison traveled to different cities to alleviate his sense of loneliness. He said in the BBC’s interview that he had been to over 100 cities in China, and would sing the authentic Taiwanese songs such as “Orphan of Asia”, to cheer himself up in the vast alienated land.  

Morrison said he would try to establish an international rescue platform in the future to provide assistance to those who are forcibly disappeared in China. According to a source received by The Liberty Times, Lee would return to Taiwan in a few weeks. 

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TNL Editor: Kim Chan (@thenewslensintl)

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